The battleship Kongo was the last capital ship of the Japanese Navy to be purchased from a foreign country, and after that, Japan's capital ship was completely domestic, and it can also be said that the battleship Kongo was the last time that Japan learned from its teacher Britain, after which the Japanese Navy became completely independent and designed and built its own warships.

However, the battleship Kongo was originally built according to the standards of battlecruisers, emphasizing speed and firepower and ignoring defensive capabilities.

The Chongqing was desperately firing at this time with the King Kong, the fierce artillery fire continued to splash the water column that soared into the sky, and the ocean seemed to be boiling, although the Chongqing was much worse than the King Kong in terms of tonnage and firepower, especially the main gun was only 280 mm, but it was enough to penetrate the weak horizontal armor of the King Kong.

In the fourth salvo, a shell landed on the rear deck of the Kongo, and the weakness of the Kongo's defenses was undoubtedly revealed, the shell easily penetrated the armor of only 35 mm, and the violent explosion tore a huge hole, and the sound of explosions was incessant.

In an instant, black smoke billowed out, almost enveloping most of the Kongo, and the Japanese Navy was also extremely embarrassed at this time, obviously it was a battle to bully the small, and it was actually hit by the Chinese warship first, it was simply in the mouth of the Great Combined Fleet, how could they tolerate it.

All the Japanese navy also took a desperate posture and fired frantically at the Chongqing, and a shell hit the armor of the middle side of the Chongqing, and the whole Chongqing seemed to be hit by thunder, trembling incessantly, and the whole warship was like a small boat encountering a strong wind.

However, because the German warships themselves focused on defense, after reaching the hands of the Chinese, the armor was strengthened, although the Chongqing was still called a battle cruiser, but the speed did not increase much. On the contrary, the defensive capabilities are already comparable to ordinary battleships. Compared with the King Kong, which has a thin skin and a big filling, it is much more than that.

Therefore, this shell only drilled a hole, and a large amount of fuel oil was left in the oil storage tank, leaving a huge black area above the sea, which did not damage the combat effectiveness of Chongqing, and the young men of the navy were still struggling to fight back.

China and Japan fought desperately on the sea, and before that, the commander of the navy, Chen Shaokuan, also experienced the most important test of his life, when Tang Qianming decided to face the Japanese navy. Chen Shaokuan got the news, and Chen Shaokuan analyzed that the Japanese Navy was likely to have divided its forces into two ways with the intelligence in hand.

If in the South China Sea direction is battleships as the main force, then what exactly are the more threatening aircraft carriers of Japan doing?

As early as a few days ago, the Chinese High Command had obtained an important piece of information through spies who had been hiding in the Japanese navy, that Japan planned to attack the Zhoushan Islands and use the Zhoushan Islands as a base to cut off China's north-south communications. and then attack Shanghai and Hangzhou, two of the most dynamic cities.

Combining the intelligence, it becomes obvious that the Japanese aircraft carrier should be preparing to attack Zhoushan, and now that the battleship formation has set off, then the aircraft carrier formation will also attack in Mashan, and now the Japanese have made a move, and the rest depends on how the Chinese Navy responds.

Both the South China Sea route and the Zhoushan Islands are important lifelines that the Chinese Navy must protect. According to the original plan, the Chinese Navy was to be divided into two directions. The fleet with aircraft carriers as the core guards the East China Sea, while the Guangxi and Chongqing warlords guard the South China Sea.

But the plan has serious holes. That is, the ships of the Chinese Navy are still very weak, if they are divided into two routes, these two roads will be relatively weak, and the Guangxi will probably not be able to deal with the Japanese battleship formation with numerical superiority without the support of aviation, and if something goes wrong with the Guangxi and Chongqing, China's aircraft carriers will also face the problem of not having large warships to escort them.

The aircraft carrier itself is very fragile, and without the escort of large warships, then the aircraft carrier can only operate in the near sea area, relying on the cover of land-based aircraft, to be able to resist the Japanese combined fleet.

There is no problem with China being so defended from the beginning, because the enemy is extremely strong and I am extremely weak, so we can only defend to the death, and now with the sinking of the Tosa, the Chinese naval aviation already has a relative advantage, so we should not blindly defend it, but seek to give full play to our own advantages to win the war.

Thinking of this, Chen Shaokuan paid more and more attention to the information in front of him, and it was better to cut off one of his fingers if he hurt his ten fingers!

If China can completely annihilate a Japanese fleet, then the strength of the navy will be reversed immediately, and China will not have to defend the sea border so tremblingly, but will be able to launch a counterattack against Japan, and now it seems that it is easier to attack the battleship formation, after all, China's experience has repeatedly proved that a battleship without air power is a live target in front of an aircraft carrier.

According to normal practice, the Chinese aircraft carrier group should immediately go south to support the Guangxi and Chongqing, and send the Japanese battleships to the bottom of the sea, but if this happens, then what will the Japanese aircraft carrier group do, let them attack the Chinese coast?

If China's aircraft carrier squadron leaves regardless of it, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and even Fuzhou, Quanzhou, these important coastal port cities may become a ruin, after all, it is still very difficult to deal with naval aviation with only land-based aircraft, and these big cities are all the essence of China, where wealth gathers, and if one of them suffers losses, it will be a serious dereliction of duty!

However, now the military situation is very urgent, and he is not allowed to ask Beijing for instructions and research, because Chen Shaokuan knows very well that the situation of the Guangxi is actually very dangerous, and if the Guangxi is sunk and the Dongsha Islands are lost, Japan will have a foothold, and no matter how powerful China's aircraft carriers are, it will be difficult to defeat the Japanese navy.

Chen Shaokuan has also experienced a lot of things, he has also participated in the Battle of Jutland, which is more cruel than this naval battle, but he has never felt so troubled, on the one hand, there is the hope of victory, and on the other hand, there are heavy losses, how to measure, tormenting Chen Shaokuan's nerves.

After staring at the chart for three minutes, Chen Shaokuan gave the most difficult order in his life, and the Chinese Navy went south at full speed to support the South China Sea operation!

At the same time, Chen Shaokuan also informed Beijing of his decision, Chen Shaokuan did not use the tone of asking for instructions, but calmly recounted his decision, and said that he would bear all the consequences!

"President, Commander Chen is preparing to break the boat, and it is indeed a painful decision to abandon the eastern seaboard, but I also support him in doing so. It's just that the civil losses are probably too huge! ”

Jiang Baili read Chen Shaokuan's telegram. I understand his decision very well, but there are also countless worries that if Japan really attacks the coastal areas and causes heavy casualties, then Chen Shaokuan will definitely bear a heavy infamy, just to pursue victory, and disregard the lives of the common people.

Those media and literati will criticize him completely. Even with arguments such as lust for profit, only for war exploits, and so on, some people will even stand up and say that the mission of the army is to protect the people, and now they have actually given up the safety of the people, which is simply a crime against the people, what is the use of the state raising such an army!

These remarks are, of course, farting. This is a miscellaneous miscellaneous who seems to be full of righteous indignation for the country and the people, and never understands that without victory, there is nothing!

But there is never a shortage of people in this world, they always look at problems with colored glasses, they are paranoid and narrow-minded, even despicable and shameless, but they are ghostly, able to drown a person with saliva. This is the so-called terrible words of man. Jiang Baili could even imagine the terrible scene of Chen Shaokuan being besieged by these people.

Qiao Yu is even more aware of the virtues of these people, and in later generations, it is obviously a great boost to the country's prestige. The great victory of confronting the world with the strength of one country will be said by them to be brave and ruthless, and it will be said that the victory is achieved by the tactics of the sea of people, and it is the exchange of the blood of soldiers for victory.

"Brother Baili, you will give an order in the name of the Supreme Command now, this choice is made by me, the pressure cannot be carried by Chen Shaokuan, just let him concentrate on winning the victory, even if China is defeated, he can turn the book over, do not have any burden, in addition, all the coastal provinces must be prepared and start evacuating the masses, the air force planes must also enter a state of combat readiness, ready to attack at any time, we can only try to minimize the losses!"

After Qiao Yu finished explaining, Jiang Baili immediately went to make arrangements, and at this time, Chen Shaokuan had already left the port base, and was on the flagship starting point, accompanied by Yangwei and Chaoyong on both sides, and there were three heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and more than a dozen destroyers, forming the most powerful aircraft carrier task force in China at present, and was rushing towards the Dongsha Sea at full speed, and at this time, the intelligence agency also came with news that the Japanese aircraft carrier formation had left Okinawa six hours ago. And the Japanese Nagato in Keelung Harbor also headed north.

The situation is already obvious, the target of Japan's aircraft carrier formation is the coastal line with Shanghai as the center, and judging from the time, within ten hours, these areas will face an attack by the Japanese naval aviation, and ten hours is still too short for these large coastal cities, and there is no time to evacuate at all.

The only hope now is that the Air Force can play a role in damaging Japanese warships and protecting coastal populations, while the Navy's mission is to win the sea for China.

The collision between the steel giants is often the most cruel, the Guangxi has been hit by four shells, the main cannon in the middle has been knocked away, there is dripping blood all around, there are stumps and broken legs, billowing black smoke keeps coming out, but none of the Chinese navy flinched or feared, they knew very well that only victory could comfort the dead comrades, and only make the heroic spirit smile Jiuquan.

Their opponent was even more miserable at this time, the Fusang also suffered three shells, although less than the Guangxi, but the damage caused was more terrible, two of the shells completely destroyed the main gun in the bow, and the other shell hit the stern, the steering gear of the Fuso was seriously deformed, making it difficult for the warship to make an effective turn, and the speed was also plummeting, soon dropping to below 10 knots, staggering above the sea.

The Fusang, which lost its speed advantage, instantly became a target, the Guangxi was just able to give full play to the main gun advantage, the distance between the two warships was getting closer and closer, the distance was no more than 10,000 meters, the bayonets between the giant beasts were red, and the Guangxi hit the Fusang twice in a row, and the huge shells exploded on the Fusang, and the Japanese soldiers near the center of the explosion disappeared without a trace, but the Japanese would not give up easily, they tried their best to fight back, and the sound of the explosion shook the South China Sea to the bottom! (To be continued.) )